Book Club Questions for Deeper

1.Ortlund opens by acknowledging that most Christians already feel the call to grow — but many are confused about how. How would you have answered the question "how do Christians grow?" before picking up this book? What assumptions or methods have shaped your approach to sanctification?

2.The subtitle of the book is "Real Change for Real Sinners." What do you think Ortlund is signaling with that phrase? Who is this book written for, and why does the word "real" appear twice?

3.Ortlund anchors the entire book in 2 Peter 3:18 — "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." What is the difference between growing in knowledge *about* Jesus and growing in the grace and knowledge *of* Jesus? Why does the distinction matter?

1.Ortlund argues that the engine of all genuine Christian growth is an ever-deepening knowledge of Jesus Christ himself — not principles, methods, or even disciplines. Why do you think this needs to be argued? What would tempt a Christian to seek growth elsewhere?

2.Ortlund emphasizes that Jesus is not merely our example or our teacher but our life — the one in whom we live and move and have our spiritual being. What is the practical difference between following Jesus as a model versus being united to Jesus as a source of life?

3.One of Ortlund's central moves is pointing to the *heart* of Jesus — gentle and lowly (drawing from his earlier book) — as the foundation for growth. How does knowing that Jesus is not disappointed or disgusted by your weakness change how you come to him in your struggle to grow?

1.Ortlund's claim that despair is a *friend* of sanctification, not an enemy, is counterintuitive. What is your gut reaction to that idea? Does it feel like a dangerous invitation to passivity, or does it resonate with your experience?

2.Ortlund distinguishes between worldly despair (which leads to death) and a gospel-shaped despair (which empties us of self-reliance and throws us onto Christ). What marks the difference between the two? How would you recognize which kind you're experiencing?

3.Paul's anguished cry in Romans 7 — "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" — is treated by Ortlund as a statement of spiritual health, not spiritual failure. Does that reframe how you have read Romans 7? What does it mean that Paul asks *who* will deliver him rather than *what*?

1.Ortlund describes union with Christ as the "skeleton" of the Christian life — everything else hangs on it. Before reading this chapter, how prominent was the doctrine of union with Christ in your understanding of your faith? Was it a central reality or a theological footnote?

2.Ortlund draws on the analogy of marriage to illuminate union with Christ. What does this analogy capture about the nature of our connection to Jesus? What are its limits? How does it help you understand sanctification differently?

3.Galatians 2:20 is pivotal: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Ortlund insists this is not mystical poetry but actual ontological reality — the risen Christ truly lives in the believer. What difference does it make to treat this as literal rather than metaphorical?

1.Ortlund distinguishes between identity *earned* through behavior and identity *given* through what Christ has accomplished. Why does the direction of that arrow matter so much? What goes wrong when Christians try to build their identity through spiritual performance?

2.Romans 6 is central to this chapter: Paul's appeal to the Roman Christians not to sin is grounded in *who they already are* — dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. What is striking about this approach? How does it differ from how you typically try to motivate yourself or others to resist sin?

3.Ortlund uses the phrase "invincible identity" — the believer's standing in Christ cannot be taken away, shaken, or diminished by sin, failure, or accusation. How does this land emotionally for you? Does it feel liberating, or does it feel like it might remove urgency from the battle against sin?

1.Ortlund warns against a kind of Bible reading that is merely informational — gathering facts, tracking themes, completing reading plans — without being relational, a meeting with the living Christ on every page. Does that warning land? Which mode of Bible reading have you most often defaulted to?

2.Jesus tells the Pharisees in John 5:39–40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life... yet you refuse to come to me." What is the warning here for serious, disciplined Bible readers? How can diligent Bible study actually become a substitute for encounter with Christ?

3.Ortlund argues that every part of the Bible — not just the New Testament — is ultimately pointing to and finding its coherence in Jesus Christ. How does this Christo-centric reading of Scripture change how you approach Old Testament texts, especially difficult or obscure ones?

1.Be honest: how would you describe your prayer life right now — not what you think it should be, but what it actually is? What makes prayer difficult, dull, or inconsistent for you?

2.Ortlund frames prayer primarily as communion — speaking with and listening to a Person — rather than as a technique for getting things done. How does shifting from "prayer as mechanism" to "prayer as relationship" change your expectations of what a good prayer time looks like?

3.Romans 8:26–27 promises that the Spirit intercedes for us "with groanings too deep for words." How does knowing that the Holy Spirit himself is praying within you and for you change how you feel about your inadequate, stumbling, half-formed prayers?

1.Ortlund argues that suffering is not a detour from sanctification but one of its primary roads. How does this land in your gut, not just your head? Is there a season of suffering in your past or present that you can begin to see differently through this lens?

2.Romans 5:3–5 says we "rejoice in our sufferings" because suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Ortlund is at pains to say this is not stoic resignation or positive thinking. What makes this distinctively *Christian* rather than merely a therapeutic reframe?

3.2 Corinthians 4:7 describes believers as "jars of clay" carrying a treasure. Ortlund unpacks why God would put the treasure of the gospel in such fragile containers. What is the theological purpose of human frailty? What would be lost if God worked primarily through the strong and impressive?

1.Ortlund is careful to insist that obedience is not the *root* of the Christian life but the *fruit*. Why does this distinction matter so much? What goes wrong — spiritually, emotionally, relationally — when obedience is treated as the foundation rather than the overflow?

2.Jesus says in John 14:15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Notice the direction: love produces obedience, not obedience produces love. Where in your own spiritual life have you tried to reverse that order — doing the right things in hope that love and affection for Jesus would follow?

3.Ortlund draws a contrast between obedience driven by fear of punishment and obedience flowing from delight in Christ. In your most honest assessment, what most motivates your obedience on a typical day — fear, duty, desire for approval, or genuine love for Jesus? How do you feel about that answer?

1.Ortlund insists that going deeper in Christ is not a private, purely interior journey — it is sustained and nourished by the visible, communal means of grace Christ has given his church. Why do you think so many Christians in our culture treat spiritual growth as primarily a personal and private matter?

2.The means of grace Ortlund emphasizes — Word, sacrament, prayer, and fellowship — are all intensely ordinary. There is nothing spectacular about them. Why do you think God works through ordinary means? What does that say about the kind of God he is?

3.Ortlund treats the Lord's Supper as a means of feeding on Christ — not merely remembering a past event but actually receiving present grace. How does this understanding of communion change how you approach the Table? What would it look like to come to the Lord's Supper with genuine hunger rather than mere ritual compliance?

1.Looking back over the whole book, what single chapter or idea hit you hardest — the one you are still thinking about? What made it so significant for you specifically, given your history, your temperament, or your current season of life?

2.Ortlund's central argument is that Christian growth happens by going *deeper* into the gospel rather than by doing *more*. Has this book genuinely changed how you think about sanctification? Where do you still find yourself defaulting to the "try harder" model, and what would it take to shift that pattern?

3.The book traces a journey through despair, union with Christ, identity, Scripture, prayer, suffering, obedience, and means of grace. Looking at that arc as a whole, where in that journey are you currently living? Where do you feel most at home, and where do you feel most stuck?